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Another injury for the Vancouver Canucks. Yup, this time it's Brock Boeser. |
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Sunday December 17 - Calgary Flames 6 - Vancouver Canucks 1
If, for some masochistic reason, you'd like to relive Sunday's utterly demoralizing loss to Calgary, here are your highlights:
Brock Boeser emerged unscathed when he blocked Blake Wheeler's slap shot at close range last Monday. On Sunday, he was not so lucky—felled by Mark Giordano when the Flames captain aimed a wrister at the net on the penalty kill, early in the second period.
Look how close he was. Imagine the force of that impact!
I don't understand why the whistle wasn't blown as Brock dragged himself back to the bench. The play went back down the ice into Vancouver's offensive zone, so the Canucks presumably had possession. The next item on the play-by-play sheet after Brock's block was a giveaway by Henrik, 17 seconds later.
Before Boeser's injury, the Canucks were trailing 1-0. Shots were 9-7 for Calgary in the first so Vancouver wasn't taking advantage of a tired team, exactly, but also wasn't being wildly outplayed.
The scale started to tip after the injury. Shots were 10-6 in the second, with Jacob Markstrom giving up four goals on those 10 shots. It was announced during the second period that Boeser wouldn't be returning.
Anders Nilsson took over the net in the third and limited the damage to one power-play goal as the Canucks were outshot 19-4, for a total of 38-17 on the night. So much for that 'tired team' theory.
The Canucks did the annual "Jerseys Off Their Backs" promotion after the game. Ever the gamer, Brock made an appearance—crutches and all.
The Calder Trophy hopes for the Golden Child are now thrust into doubt. Boeser didn't get a point on Sunday before he was hurt, which snapped a five-game streak. On hold at 30 points in 31 games, his average drops to 0.97 points per game—still leading the rookie points race for now but just one point ahead of Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders.
Two years ago, Connor McDavid's Calder hopes were crushed when he suffered a broken collarbone on November 3. He had 12 points in 13 games when he was injured, then missed 37 games before returning in early February. He put up 36 points in 32 games the rest of the way and finished third in Calder voting, behind winner Artemi Panarin and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.
We don't have a prognosis yet for Brock—and the Canucks are off today.
Reid Boucher has now officially been recalled from Utica.
A point-a-game player in the AHL this season, Boucher's in the top 10 in the league with 13 goals to go along with his 12 assists in 25 games.
Boucher was briefly recalled for two games back in November, but didn't see any game action. Last season, he had five goals in 27 games with the Canucks.
At this point, any offense he can provide will be sorely needed. Absent Boeser, Horvat, Baertschi and Dorsett hold down the top four spots in the team scoring race.
Next up—Thomas Vanek and Markus Granlund, who each have seven goals after Granlund scored the lone tally for Vancouver last night, a nice second effort on the power play.
The problems run deep at both ends of the ice. The Canucks have been outscored 29-10 in their last six games. I'd bet we'll see Erik Gudbranson back in the lineup on Tuesday against Montreal—and I bet Alex Biega stays in. He played 18:39 last night and had six hits—behind only Michael Del Zotto, who had seven and now quietly leads the team with 87 hits in 34 games this season.
Ben Hutton played 15:27 on Sunday—his lowest total ice time of the year—and was a minus-three. He was consistently playing more than 20 minutes a night for the first two months of the season but has been under 20 for the last nine games, going back to November 30 in Nashville.
Troy Stecher was used even less at 14:48 on Sunday, and was a minus-two. He has just one point this season and has often been the low-minute man on the blue line—averaging 15:57 and breaking 20 minutes just once since he came back from his leg injury on November 24.
Since Derrick Pouliot can play either side, I'm guessing Travis Green will be deciding between scratching Stecher or Hutton on Tuesday.
To wrap up—a quick World Juniors update.
Sweden is playing a pre-tournament game against Denmark today, but Elias Pettersson is not in the lineup. Corey Pronman of The Athletic is expecting to first see Pettersson in Sweden's tuneup game against Team USA on Friday.
And here are today's practice lines for Team Canada:
No big news yet from Team USA. They scrimmaged on Sunday but haven't announced any roster cuts yet. Everything is also quiet on the Team Finland front for now.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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